Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The article about Johnson, who got fired after ranting about a bad tipper on Facebook, seems to have touched a nerve with readers. Well over 300 commented online. Some said she shouldn't have vented about her employer on Facebook. Others said Brixx's action was too drastic.

They weren't the only readers interested. The story seems to have gone viral, running on sites ranging from the Boston Herald's to Australia's Sky News to London's Daily Telegraph. Fox News and Inside Edition have asked to interview Johnson, not to mention several local TV and radio stations.

But Johnson, who initially contacted the Observer about her firing, told me in an e-mail last night that she has been stunned by the publicity and is reluctant to say anything else. She seemed a little hurt by some of the negative things people have said about her.

"I don't want to address the situation anymore," she wrote. "I'm getting more bad publicity than I ever dreamed of."

It seems with Facebook becoming a part of daily life in the digital age, everyone with a job and a boss fears writing the wrong thing in an unguarded moment. Johnson's story, I think, resonated at least in part because of those reasons. As one lawyer told me, it's best to think of your Facebook posts the same way you'd think of standing on a street corner with a sign and a Sharpie. If you wouldn't write it on the sign for fear of your boss hearing about it, don't write it on Facebook.

Note: Johnson's not the only waitress who has vented about bad tips online. Facebook has an entire page devoted to just that, with wait staff dishing out horror stories (and insults) aplenty. Warning to the faint of heart (or wallet) -- some of it's pretty brutal stuff...

86
comments:

Anonymous
said...

Like it or not, Brixx was within their rights to fire her. When you work somewhere, you become an "agent" of the organization that employed you. As such, what you write on a public forum can become a reflection of your employer. Disparaging remarks that cast the employer in a bad light are grounds for termination.

Probably a better-crafted gripe wouldn't have been taken so seriously by her employer. But she she and other young adults should take this as an example.

I was interested in her story because I used to wait tables in college and hated tables that stayed late and left light tips. Sometimes I was forced to work after the restaurant closed waiting for these people to leave. We didn't have Facebook then, so just vented to each other. I try to be the best customer that I can be and am usually rewarded with good service as a result. If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to eat out. Double the tax when in doubt and add $1 per adult person. If you are not satisfied, let a manager know so that they can remedy the situation.

Time to end this story...so she got fired. Trust me, she will be better off at many other restaurants and she will see that within a couple of weeks. I stopped going to Brixx years ago for poor food and not the service. This shows you what poor management this place is and why people should visit the other several hundred pizza places that serve beer!

I have been a server before and YES it is so disheartening when you are worked to death as a server for a customer and you recieve less htan your 15% that is the standard rate.I think everyone should wear that hat and see what it feels like to be on the other end of "waiting on customers".I will NEVER leave a considerably low tip to anyone, regardless of their service.

As for Ms. Johnson's actions, I feel that was very inappropriate to post her feelings on facebook or anywhere.I just believe that she never expected to be blown out of proportion like this.

If you do not want something "repeated", don't speak it!!! It's just that simple.

Well Ashley, you're the one who contacted the newspaper, making it public...and now international. You just go from one bad decision to another. Perhaps, the couple did have a good reason for leaving a $5 tip. Perhaps, Dr. Phil will pay you to come on his show.

Personally I am appauled by her firing... I don't think she should have lost her job for ranting in the heat of the moment... I'm a facebooker as well and often vent my frustrations in my statuses... sure there are some things I like to keep to myself... I don't share every detail of my life but I do vent and most people do... I had a similar situation myself recently where I found myself extremely irritated at the fact that someone took information from my facebook and jeopardized another persons job with it... I think what you put on your status is up to you and as long as you are not threatening harm towards anyone then rant away... JMO!

I don't blame her for being miffed at that ridiculous 'tip'. Having worked for tips myself, I always tip at least 20%, even if the service is bad. You never know when your server is just having a bad day, and if a generous tip can make them feel a little better, it's well worth it. Some advice for you people out there, and you know who you are, that order delivery, then claim you don't have enough for a tip - if you don't have enough for a tip, YOU CAN'T AFFORD DELIVERY! Go to Wal-Mart and get some ramen noodles.

It's admirable that she chooses to pass on the publicity (especially when so many will do anything to get it).. but it's an interesting discussion to have in the age of Facebook, social networking, etc.

If she didn't want publicity she shouldn't have tried to pitch her story to news outlets.

I think she got what she deserved. Food industry workers are constantly complaining about these same things. My suggestion is this: if you feel like you're not getting paid enough, do the same thing that people with a real job would do, go find ANOTHER JOB.

It's not the customers responsibility to know when her shift ended. They also shouldn't be expected to cut their meal short just to make her happy.

What ever happened to free speach in this country? She should only allow "friends" to read her page as it is. As for the inconsiderate tippers, I hope they receive poor service until they learn a lesson.

You whining know-it-alls have no idea what you are talking about. Just proves that once again people in Charlotte have no actual damn concept of the law and how it is applied.

To all you anti-social Facebook addicts who live your lives on a computer: Anything you post on the internet can come back to haunt you. PERIOD.

All of this crap about Facebook ‘privacy’ settings is just a buch of bull. It means NOTHING in this case. Whoever told Brixx about the post, means NOTHING here.

The fact is that she posted something on the internet that was a violation of the company’s policy. They have that right and she knew that when she started work.

This foolish society of today thinks that they can say whatever they want on the internet and it’s their right to do so. Well, sorry, but you are dead wrong. Just look at all the problems with teachers and their Facebook comments.

Get off Facebook and try being a real adult and interacting with living people.

N.C. is an at-will work state and they can fire you for any reason, at any time. It may suck, but unfortunately that’s the way it is folks.

And to all the bleeding heart, bitching waitresses out there complaining about your tips and ‘your’ tables: Remember, you are an employee of the business who hired you. You are there at their pleasure to do what they tell you to. THEY are responsible for your compensation, NOT the patrons. Not quite sure how all that BS got turned around in your minds but you are wrong, and so are they if they are telling you such. It is their restaurant, not yours.

Do not treat customers like they owe you something, because they do not. If you don’t like being a waitress, get the hell out and do something else. We will tip you according to our on rules, not yours. Finally, this young girl will realize her mistake and hopefully learn from it in this case, and maybe some of the rest of you will too.

You're exercising it. But with it comes responsibility. If you're so offended by this, give your real name and post a negative comment about your employer - and make sure you name your employer and use a swear word like Ashley did.

What's with all the cursing and rude language. Everyone posted their opinion and you can agree with it or not. You sound like you might be 1/2 of the couple that left that cheapskate tip in the first place. Waiting tables is a job a lot of people get while they are in school or as a second job. I made 2.13 an hour in 1995 as a server. The pay is still the same in 2010 so you are dead wrong when you say the employer pays her not the patrons. Try going to the kitchen and get your own food if you think it's so easy, or take a part time job as a server, I doubt you lasat a week.

"I made 2.13 an hour in 1995 as a server. The pay is still the same in 2010 so you are dead wrong when you say the employer pays her not the patrons."

You are a foolish, silly idiot who believes the same trash as the rest of your wait staff. It is YOU are dead wrong - twice now, by God.

If your employer hasn't increased your pay, then that is THEIR fault, not the customers. How in the Hell do you come up with that twisted math?

If you want more money, ask them. We will not pay you salary in their place. That is how they are getting by with murder any way and all the while brainwashing the wait staff into thinking it is the patron who should have to pay all your wages. That is false, and comepletely ILLEGAL to enforce, by the way.

Let your restaurant owner come out onto the floor and say that to a customer, and they will lose every bit of business they have.

Recently I saw a couple pickup 6 dinners, an approx. $198 tab, and told the server to keep the change, a $2 tip. The server worked hard and completed their order on time and delivered a quality service. The customer should be ashamed.

Most of you blaming Ms. Johnson are way off point. She will get another job, in another restaurant. Good waitresses and waiters are desperately needed everywhere. The real story here are the cheap (bleeps) that take up 3 hours of, say, an 8-hour shift, at the end of that shift, and result in Ms. Johnson working past her shift. THEN, those customers have the nerve to leave a $5 TIP!! People tip salons and barbers more than $5 for a haircut, even if the service is an hour!! What, by any stretch of the imagination, did that table of customers do for 3 hours? I would guess that they ate for an hour or so. Then, drank coffee for 1 1/2 hrs or so.

So, two things: (1) the bill was probably at least $50. So, a $10 tip would be in order. And, (2) in that 3 hour span Ms. Johnson would have been able to wait on 2 sets of customers at that same table. So, she loses all around. Imagine if everyone did what those customers did. Imagine if 10 tables fill up, order food, eat, then continue to drink coffee refills for 4 or 5 hours. How much money would that dining facility make? How about the servers?

Oh, let me say what no one else has suggested. The floor manager that night would have asked Ms. Johnson why her tips were down. And, might even presume that Ms. Johnson was not performing her waitressing duties properly. When, in fact, it is the cheapskates at the table who, I will remind you again, left her a subpar tip and did not allow new customers to dine at that table.

So, I echo most people's thoughts - if you can't afford to eat out, including a tip, STAY the @#$!% HOME!!

Haha, the neverending tip war! It's ok, it's the people like 1:57 and 2:28 that will have a full dose of Karma heading their way later in life.

Back to the actual story. Having worked in the industry for many years, while holding another part time job and putting myself through school, I can understand how frustrating it is when snobs/cheap MF's come in and completely ruin your night. But you have to be smarter and more importantly, better than these types of people. There is no need to put anything like that on Facebook, only asking for trouble. What she should have done is vented to her co-workers then waited patiently for these dirt balls to come back in. Once they came back in, make them wait a good 15-20 to even be greated. Then maybe mess a drink or two up, maybe spill it on them. If they order a pizza, make sure it's burnt. Then maybe add a little extra "special sauce" to the entree just to kick the flavor up a notch. And at the end of the meal smile and accept whatever they feel is proper compensation because inside you truly feel rewarded!

Lesson (s) learned, don't post crap on Facebook that nobody besides your should see and more importantly, never, ever f**k with the people that handle your food! Happy dining cheap skates!

We can afford to eat out you #*(&%#*#*($&*($&@#)!! We will just not be responsible for paying your salary. That is what your employer is supposed to do. Tipping is based on good service, but it is against the law to mandate or set a rule of a tip amount.

So, if you don't like what the employer is paying you, get the *()#&%*()&#*(&#*($& out!!!!

To the waiter who is threatening to contaminate the food of patrons: you are walking an extremely fine line and may not realize how close you are to issuing a direct threat. Be advised that this type of comment in today's society can easily be deemed as a terrorist-related threat or action.

Watch what you say, you never know who is reading your posts, anywhere.

Figures that some Facebook lowlife would threaten to do something to the food of customers. You ask why people don't want to tip you? I think you should read your comments and maybe you'll have your answer.

Perhaps if your teenage brain would get the ____ off facebook and live in the real world, you would know how to act. I hope they doe lock down your IP address for that threat. Trash like you should be prosecuted for such.

In the end this could have all been avoided had complaints not been pasted on Facebook and Brixx management's over reaction in firing the waitress. Two wrongs don't make a right, but it's a great way to bring world attention to an overreaction by management. Way to go Brixx Pizza

Ironic how tipping works. I bussed tables in college. I was supposed to get 10% of each waitress' tips. If they made $20, I got $2. If they made $50, I got $2. If they made $100, I got $2. I have no sympathy for whiney waitresses that think they are entitled to get a tip.

I've left a comment on the Brixx website via Google Sidewiki. I would recommend others do the same. I felt strongly enough that Brixx over reacted, What I would really like to know is who were the cheap skates who tipped $5.00 to begin with!

I was a waitress for 7 years through high school and college and let me tell you something: You do NOT want to mess with the person serving your food. Unless you plan on never coming back in to that restaurant, you'd better tip. You don't want me to share the horror stories. Just trust.

If you have ever worked as a server in the food service industry, you’d understand her frustration. And if you ever worked as a server in the food service industry, you should watch the movie “Waiting”, which I tell ya must have been written about all the folks I worked with from 1985 – 1988. Bad tippers were the norm 25 years ago, and it seems things haven’t changed much. Where do customers learn to tip at all or that the standard is 15 percent? I think customers are careless and thoughtless. How about an expose on that issue?

Maybe employers should pay a server a living wage and servers wouldn’t have to rely on tips.

I feel for the gal that lost her job. FB wasn’t around when I was a server and was only able to vent my frustrations to my coworkers and friends.

It’s bad form to comment about nearly any aspect of one’s employment and it can always come back to haunt a person. Let’s hope this gal finds another position soon.

Haha!! Are you really serious? Teenage brain? LMAO! I haven't been on FB in months! First off, I never threatened anyone in any way, was just trying to help someone with such a tiny mind realize what could possibly happen. Try stiffing someone and see what happens the next time you walk into that place and have that server. At least now you will know why the entire staff is smirking when you look over at them. YES, they ARE laughing at YOU! And they can go ahead and lock my IP address down because like I said, I WORKED in the industry for years. I guess your tiny little mind can't understand that either. So go ahead, call the cops, CIA, FBI or Obama for all I care! Now I'm kinda HOPING that someone does what I described. The best part is, you would NEVER know about it! Enjoy your meal, A**CLOWNS!

Sorry but I think it was wrong for Brixx to fire Ms. Johnson, that being said in this digital age ya gotta be careful what you post: texts, pictures, comments (obscene, derogatory, etc) they may come back to bite you in the ***, just ask Tiger Woods how that works out....Good Luck Ashley, I hope all works out well for you.....

I feel sorry for the poor girl, I'm sure she didn't intend for all this publicity to ensue but if you post something on a site like facebook it can (obviously) come back to bite you on the ***, even texts, pictures, etc. so you'd better be careful especially in the heat of the moment - ask Tiger Woods if this isn't true......

Terrible service should mean a terrible tip. I could really care less if you get paid under minimum wage and rely on tips for your income. Especially as an adult, you knew that going into the job, so you know what should be required to get a good tip. I'm sure plenty of waiters/server spit in food, put stuff in food, eat off plates and that's all fine and good. I'm sure they'll get caught one day. Besides, if an adult is willing to stoop to that level because they feel like they aren't being fairly compensated for carrying food, then there's a reason that's the only job they could get.

Wow. I can see why some of these folks are nothing but waiters and waitresses. How pathetic.

To the obvious republican who issued a threat about spitting in food and even mentioned the President: you really are this stupid, aren't you? Enjoy waiting tables and being a terrorist the rest of your dreadful life, you pitiful manchild. That is, if you are not incarcerated first.

To all the waiters/waitresses: The customer coming in and paying for the meal is why the business and you are there! Why is this soooooo hard for all of you to grasp?

Don't be angry with customers, be angry with your employer. A small tip for good service is surely the right thing to do, but to expect a certain amount and then threaten violence and spitting in food because of the customer is warped and CRIMINAL.

You should take a look at the situation, and understand why it is you are there in the first place. Then know that it is the responsibility of the restaurant to pay your full salary for the time you are there on the clock, just like any other job. THEY are getting out scott free and making all of you blame the customer!

I do not think she should have been fired at all. BRIXX will not get my business if they can't stand up for their employees! SHE worked hard for that chump change those cheap skates left! And they (the customers) probably had no clue who she was talking about anyway! BRIXX is WRONG!

1st Amendment is Freedom Of Speech is it not? Don't care where you work!

A facebook status is only like standing on a corner with a sign IF you don't understand the privacy controls. Everything you post can be individually hidden from specific people or friend lists. It's not that hard to hide a status from people you don't want to see it.

4:21 has obviously never had to wait tables. How thick do you have to be not to realize that restaurants... EVERY restaurant - pays something like two bucks an hour plus change. They can do this because in the US, the culture exists that the patrons pay for service through tips.

Get it through your head once and for all - your bill pays for the food, the chefs, the interior design, the music, and everything else EXCEPT the servers and bussers. Their paycheck comes from YOUR tips. Sorry you don't like it, but quit blaming the server for a culture that has existed for decades. They're just trying to pay their bills. You're just being a cheapskate.

I will never go to Brixx. While I don't condone her using her employer by name I do condone her complaining about it. When it was her time to leave, she should (1) have the option to stay or go, (2) have the freedom of speech to talk about it and (3) not get fired for it. Brixx has gone a little too far by firing. Dont these companies know how to slap someone on the wrist for a 1st time offender and then move onto firings for more?Brixx is a joke, I suggest other people ban them as well.

Here's the real answer to this problem...put your FaceBook page on PRIVATE people. I can't believe the world is so ignorant that they have NO clue that employers monitor their pages. Second solution, don't invite co-workers or employers to be "friends" on your page cause people by nature are backstabbing freaks. Anyone who has people on their FaceBook page that they can't call directly from the contact list in their phone and talk to on a personal basis is a friend whore and deserves any trouble they get for inviting random people.The simple fact is if you want to rant about ANYTHING about work, you don't have it anywhere that the boss might potentially get wind of it. Duh. Of course any employer that feels like they need to stalk their employees via FaceBook doesn't have managers with very good people skills either.

Hooray for Brixx management. in a world of lessening quality, service and rising prices, it is refreshing to see the business take a stand for the customer. Who hasn't had to provide a service for a less than stellar customer? The fact is, it is all about choices, Americans work where they want, one might think that not to be true, but no one HAS to go to work tomorrow...

The comments here have convinced me that this up and coming generation can't even perform simple jobs like waiting on tables. Our company has am unspoken policy of not hiring anyone under the age of 35 due to the realization that people under 35 can't perform even simple tasks given to them. I thought the policy was a bit unfair until I read the comments here.

I am a frequent patron of Brixx on seventh street and what they did by firing Ashley was wrong. There are many places with better pizzas and that is where I will be spending my money in the future. So for those who agee let's take our business elsewhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That Restraunt you were working at(and fired from)is NO Big LOSS!!! Wishing You the Best in Your Next "BETTER" Job of Employment... ASHLEY!!! Some People/Customers are Cheap, Disrespectful & Demanding as well.Employers that Oblige them are Not worth working for!They say Americans - have Freedom of Speech... hmmm Really ??? I do see that here in America anymore.

Ashley your Comment on My Space was Not a Refection on the Company you were working for. It was strickly about how you were Feeling - on the tip you received for the job you were performing.On the other hand...The Employer Firing you from that Job... Is a Reflection of that Company and what they are about.

I've worked retail as a 2nd Job for many Years and I do NOT Believe in - "Customers are Always Right""No One" Here on Earth, Is Always Right!

Oh give me a break people. A five dollar tip on a thirty-two dollar bill is not a bad tip. Ashley should have been happy that she even had a job. A job where, according to her own words, she was making good money.

Hey Kathleen, what business is it that you own? Let us know so that we can all avoid it. Who wants to spend money at a business owned by someone whose business philosophy is to that the customer is always wrong? No wonder you need to work a second job.

I think the bigger question lies in free speech. Employers cannot tell people what to say in their private postings -- and no better than loyalty oaths or any other medieval requirements for employment - it is time for someone to challenge the RIGHT of employees to even require this "agreement" for employees.Brixx will lose a lot more customers because of their firing, not her comments. We've boycotted it up here in Chapel Hill.Scarier than any Orwell novel. You can't complain anymore unless you are the employer? What about public union speeches? can't fire them for that? Geez.

Age-old problem... people who work for tips find it frustrating when people fail to tip "appropriately."

Those two sides will always disagree, for all of the reasons shown here. That will NEVER change.

My question is simply this. What would happen if someone posted on FaceBook that they always tipped 5%and were then denied service by a restaurant because of that post? How many law firms would line up for that case, despite the fact that restaurants can, by law, deny service to anyone they choose for any reason or no reason at all?

It would be very enlightening to see all of the negative posts on Brixx on every page on FaceBook. I imagine their customers have produced significantly more negative publicity than all of their servers combined.

For the "anti-tippers", why do you think Brixx has an 18% auto-gratutity policy? I am sure even you can figure that out.

You can guess those on here that leave lousy tips. They're named Anonymous(and I don't mean ALL the anonymous ones, you know who I mean). You think you're ENTITLED to good service even though you leave a crappy tip every time. You aren't entitled to JACK. Stay the %$## home. I would NEVER leave a crap tip, unless the service was truly lousy, but even then I would contact the manager. And no, I'm not a waitress or work in food service. I'm just a consumer who knows that 20% is an average tip, that if service is excellent, you can plan on more from me. The rest of you cheap bastards can learn to cook. And I don't eat at Brixx, their food stinks.

You whining know-it-alls have no idea what you are talking about. Just proves that once again people in Charlotte have no actual damn concept of the law and how it is applied.

To all you anti-social Facebook addicts who live your lives on a computer: Anything you post on the internet can come back to haunt you. PERIOD.

All of this crap about Facebook ‘privacy’ settings is just a buch of bull. It means NOTHING in this case. Whoever told Brixx about the post, means NOTHING here.

The fact is that she posted something on the internet that was a violation of the company’s policy. They have that right and she knew that when she started work.

This foolish society of today thinks that they can say whatever they want on the internet and it’s their right to do so. Well, sorry, but you are dead wrong. Just look at all the problems with teachers and their Facebook comments.

Get off Facebook and try being a real adult and interacting with living people.

N.C. is an at-will work state and they can fire you for any reason, at any time. It may suck, but unfortunately that’s the way it is folks.

And to all the bleeding heart, bitching waitresses out there complaining about your tips and ‘your’ tables: Remember, you are an employee of the business who hired you. You are there at their pleasure to do what they tell you to. THEY are responsible for your compensation, NOT the patrons. Not quite sure how all that BS got turned around in your minds but you are wrong, and so are they if they are telling you such. It is their restaurant, not yours.

Do not treat customers like they owe you something, because they do not. If you don’t like being a waitress, get the hell out and do something else. We will tip you according to our on rules, not yours. Finally, this young girl will realize her mistake and hopefully learn from it in this case, and maybe some of the rest of you will too.

You actually thought that rant you wrote yesterday was profound enough to copy and paste for those that missed it? I bet you don't tip and all servers hate to see you coming. When Walmart gets a restaurant, they you can go back out to eat. Until then, stay your cheap self home.

Very profound actually, you sorry young waitress. How about go find a real job if you don't have brains to realize your employer is responsible for your salary.

..."And to all the bleeding heart, bitching waitresses out there complaining about your tips and ‘your’ tables: Remember, you are an employee of the business who hired you. You are there at their pleasure to do what they tell you to. THEY are responsible for your compensation, NOT the patrons. Not quite sure how all that BS got turned around in your minds but you are wrong, and so are they if they are telling you such. It is their restaurant, not yours.

Do not treat customers like they owe you something, because they do not. If you don’t like being a waitress, get the hell out and do something else. We will tip you according to our on rules, not yours. Finally, this young girl will realize her mistake and hopefully learn from it in this case, and maybe some of the rest of you will too."

Try spitting in our food and we will slap your damn face. Go back to school and learn something.